Thank You For Being A Friend: Earring and Bracelet Sets

So here's the story behind this post. Several years ago, my husband's parents retired to a small town on the Washington coast. To say it's remote is an understatement, but that's where they wanted to be. They quickly settled in and made tons of new friends. A few years after they moved, my father in law's brother joined them and he became part of their bunch. I've never seen retired people keep so busy with so many clubs and activities.


Since we started going to visit them, we've always gone to brunch at a local historic hotel owned by a sweet couple who decided they'd had enough of city life. They've been great friends to my in-laws and present for happy occasions and sad ones like when my mother-in-law passed away.

We recently celebrated my Uncle-in law's 80th birthday and they were no less gracious when we went to brunch at the hotel. They have some equally warm and funny ladies who work there and we have lots of laughs with them . I decided I'd make these ladies some things to show our appreciation for always making our extended family feel so special. I made four sets of coordinating earrings and stretchy bracelets.

The first set is silver, white, grey and gold. Most of the beads and findings are Blue Moon Beads.

The second set is blues and berries, using dichroic glass beads along with faceted acrylic beads:

The third set is shades of toffee and purples with antique gold connectors:

And the last set is copper and amber using more of the copper toggle clasps from my birds nest pendant necklace:

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Designer Inspired Super Easy White Agate Stretch Bracelet

I mentioned in my previous post that I was seeing a couple of friends this week and like to bring them something on our all too rare get togethers. One friend is an uber fashionista .Simple but high end style.

I love the Simon Sebbag stretch bracelets I’ve seen at Nordstrom. If you’re not familiar with them :

which remind me of her so I decided to do my own version. The original uses all of the same stone bead with one or two accent beads.

Got my supplies out. For this you will need:

• Stretchy Cord
• Stone Beads ( I used white agate)
• Focal Bead ( I originally planned to use this stainless mesh bead but it didn’t look right so you’ll see what I switched to after I took the picture)
• Small silver beads

Measure a length of your stretchy cord. I generally do about 9-10 inches.

String your beads on. This is THE perfect project for anyone who wants to make jewelry but doesn’t want to invest in tools. You can use what you have on hand. Ruler, binder clips, scissors.

You can see here what I swapped out for the stainless bead. A bronzite bead with two small silver beads.
Once you’re satisfied that you have the right length to go around your wrist ( you want it to fit comfortably, not too tight) then you can tie off your ends and I always add a dab of super glue to the knot then tie once more.

Even using real stone and silver beads my materials were a fraction of the cost of my inspiration bracelets.

Whipperberry Friday Flair

Craft Hope Bracelets

I was cruising along the internet the other day and came across a post that now I can’t remember where (grrrrr I hate it when that happens!) about bracelets for an organization called Craft Hope. If you’re not familiar with them:

Craft Hope is a love inspired project designed to share handmade crafts with those who need them.  It is our hope to combine our love for crafting and desire to help others into a project to make a difference around the world.

Hmmm…love making jewelry….there’s a need for bracelets…for such a good cause…check, check, and check.

The bracelets are being collected to be given out to orphans in Russia and the kids range in age from infants to teens. I found these fun beads at Michaels, along with some stretch cord:

I liked the iridescence of these beads and since I don’t often get to get my girl on, I went with “girly” colors and shapes…hearts, butterflies etc. Also since my nest is about to get emptied, I don’t often get to do “kids” crafts so double the fun.

I had actually never worked with stretch cord before. I know! But oh so easy and very fun and these went super fast. It was a perfect way to pass the time waiting for another project to dry.

So my fellow jewelry makers, if you would like to craft for a cause I can’t think of a better one. And for all of you out there who are talented sewers , Craft Hope has another project: Security Blankets for Tornado Survivors.